Boccalatte has created the name, identity and marketing campaign for PlayWriting Australia's National Play Festival for 2011. The event, a curated festival of theatre, performances, workshops and discussions showcasing the best in new Australian playwriting, runs at the Parramatta Riverside Theatre from March 15-19.
Boccalatte, a Sydney brand and visual communications studio with a long roster of clients in the Arts sector, was charged with the challenge of raising awareness of the National Play Festival and attracting an audience of largely inner-city dwelling theatre lovers, to an event hosted in Western Sydney.
Working laterally to overcome the limitations of a tight budget, Boccalatte devised a brand and marketing strategy which utilises a bold, typographically lead creative concept across both online and offline executions. Choice Cuts became the name and campaign theme for this year's festival and evolved from the notion that the festival, which showcases the "best of the best" in local playwriting, acts as a springboard for the next generation of leading Australian playwrights, actors and directors. The Choice Cuts name and concept highlights this excellence and provided an answer on how to conceptually style the marketing campaign for the event.
With a play on the term "choice cuts," Boccalatte developed a strong typographic solution referencing the style of retro butcher's signs created by ticket writers, which works as a strong masthead for the festival. This idea became a clever way of creating emotional and visual impact without the use of expensive photography, as the typographic style lent itself to the creation of bespoke icons, which are used to visually represent each event of the festival, whilst conveying a sense of drama and emotion. The theme is injected with life and movement through the use of a bright and fluorescent colour palette, which gives the campaign a contemporary and playful feel.
Boccalatte has utilised the brand and campaign concept cohesively across all elements of the marketing mix, including a website, program guide, posters, postcards and promotional items such as tote bags.
Kristy Austin, the National Play Festival's Marketing Manager, awarded the account to Boccalatte based on the strength of the studio's reputation in brand and campaign development. "Boccalatte worked extremely closely to our strategy and aims for the Festival," she said. "They turned this into a brand identity, website and marketing campaign that is strong, clever & visually very punchy."
Suzanne Boccalatte, Creative Director of Boccalatte, says the budget restrictions that are often inherent in Arts projects, are a source of inspiration, not anxiety, for her studio. "We all know that even big budgets can yield campaigns that lack connection and impact. Working with less resources means you simply cannot afford to rest on your laurels. Really, it's projects like these that are a true test of an agency's creativity and ability to effectively communicate."